


Harry Potter and the Truth of Being Saved

by broken_hearted_bard



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Harry has a sister, Multi, alive!James
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2019-10-24
Packaged: 2020-11-27 01:56:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20940377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/broken_hearted_bard/pseuds/broken_hearted_bard
Summary: Harry's mother sacrificed herself for him, saving his life. She was survived by James, Harry and Isadora.Harry has grown up with the burden of the sacrifice.This is sort of SingleParent!AU and Opposite!AU, but only sort of.





	1. Change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a conversation between Harry, James and Violet -- and then Harry goes to live with Deputy Headmistress McGonagall.
> 
> **For this fiction, we are assuming that Hogwarts is located somewhere West of Dufftown, though probably somewhere around Lochindorb. The train does, indeed, make stops from London to Hogsmeade, picking up students who are along the way. However, students who live much more nearby get to Hogsmeade other ways and meet the train/the rest of the students/etc. from there. (This isn't important, just a factual bit I wanted to make you aware of). The films are misleading, obviously, about the amount of water surrounding Hogwarts. But, well, we'll work with it. Lol.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back with the start of a new story, but I promise I'll be getting back to the older, unfinished, ones!  
I probably won't have any more writing to offer you until after the 20th (of October). I'm going to be very busy in the next 3 weeks with my partner and her kid and then after that my partner and I are going on a vacation. But, I promise new chapters of unfinished works will show up in late October and throughout November and December -- though I am working on an original fiction in November as well.

Change was, as always, annoying and annoyingly difficult. 

Harry hated change. Even though his life had changed numerous times over the last nine years, he did not welcome it. Since his mother's death, at the tender age of one, they had moved seven times. Lived in seven different houses, gone to seven different schools or nurseries and been attended to by seven different doctors, healers and mind healers. It hadn't affected Vi -- she'd been far too young to remember even the slightest of details. An infant at the time of Lily's death, Isadora Violet Potter didn't have any memories of the violence, of the death, of the home they'd lived in, nor of their mother.

"You turn eleven next year, Harry," James said for the second time. 

"I understand," Harry replied moodily. "What I don't understand is what that has to do with anything. And you still haven't explained."

"I don't have to explain myself to you. I'm your father, and you'll do as I say," James replied nastily. He was frustrated, tired and very sick of dealing with the same argument.

"You should listen to Dad," Vi said, albeit a little petulantly. She didn't really want her brother shipped off to Scotland for the next year.

Harry crossed his arms over his chest. "I've packed, haven't I? Everything's all set. I'm not running away to Uncle Remus or going to stay with Neville, am I? I'm here. I simply want an explanation."

"Isadora and I--" James began, but he was cut off by a shrill cry from his daughter.

"Daaaad! You promised!" Vi stomped her feet. "I'm going by my middle name! I'm going by 'Vi' or 'Violet' for the foreseeable future! 'Isadora is an awful name, just awful!"

James gave a long sigh and scrubbed his hands over his face. "I'm sorry, Vi," he said softly. "Your mother gave you that name, you know? It's not horrible."

Vi huffed. "If mum had realized what I'd be put through in school, _Isadorka_ and the like, I'm sure she would have switched them herself."

It was an old argument, but James had long-since decided it wasn't worth the fight. Isadora -- or Violet, as she wanted to be called -- would be nine on the 10th of October, but she already knew who she was in the world, and had a very good idea of what she wanted to do with her life. She was so strong-willed and bright, with a shock of red hair the same shade as Lily's and wide, hazel eyes like his own. In contrast, Harry had his wild, black hair -- but it was tamed by the very long length that Harry kept it at and his eyes were green -- not exactly Lily's bottle-green, more of a killing-curse green, which caused James to occasionally feel uneasy.

They were not as different as night and day, as siblings often were, but, instead, Harry and Violet shared the same quick sense of sarcasm and a steady sense of somberness that James often found difficult to understand. Neither child showed his quick humour or playfulness. Mind Healers had explained it away as the product of the death of a parent and the moving around and the constantly being on-guard, but James wasn't so sure. He felt, rather saw, that Violet's somberness was a direct result of Harry's, and that maybe Harry had influenced her personality more than any series of events had done.

"You have known for the last two years that we would be separated if Violet got accepted into music school in America. I know we'd all expected that to be a few years from now, but it's now -- instead. There isn't anything I can do about that, and you're off to Hogwarts next year. This two-year program is important to your sister. It's a great opportunity, and the MACUSA has offered me a two-year post with them as well. It's all lined up. But there's nowhere for you to get the kind of education you're after, in the states. Minerva will look after you as you study, and you'll have your sessions and lessons and activities -- all will be undisturbed by your remaining here, in England," James explained.

"I'd be happy going with you and Vi, father," Harry stated. He'd made the argument several times, but he knew the plans were made and wouldn't be changed. "I can go to school at Crossknot."

"Crossknot is not an acceptable solution, Harry. We've talked about this. It's strictly for kids whose parents have sent them to New York on their own. I can't get them to let you in as a day-student. And besides which, you need to be here." James stood up and looked hard at his son, hands on his hips. "We have talked about this Harry James Potter and it's all set. Today is the day and you are going. I don't want to hear another word about it. You need to be here. And you're aware of it."

Harry bowed his head in acceptance and went back up the stairs and into his room.

He'd loved this house the best, so far. According to his father, the house would be here for Harry's use when Minerva couldn't look after him and Sirius would keep an eye on it when no one was here. Harry was grateful for everything his father had set up, but he wished, desperately, that he wasn't being set out on his own so soon. He wanted more time to be a kid, regardless of how serious he behaved or how studious he liked to be as well.

The ground floor had a series of small, tight rooms, except the kitchen which was spacious and had an enormous (though not floo-connected) fireplace at one end and a dining table at the other. Tiny parlours led into each other through gorgeous archways and there was a small conservatory off of one of them with windows twice as tall as his father. From the kitchen a small door led down into the tiny basement, which James used to store many brooms and a mass amount of sports gear and Harry had carved out a tiny space for a Potions Laboratory.

The first floor held the Master Bedroom (en suite) and Violet's room (also en suite) and the end of the hall opened up into a small sitting area where you could open the windows onto a balcony. It was from this balcony that you could Apparate, if you knew the password.

The second floor was made up of two bedrooms connected by a bath in the center. The room on the left was the guest room, and they didn't often have visitors. The room on the right was Harry's. This bit of added privacy, up on the second floor, away from everyone else, was viciously guarded and enormously appreciated.

From a wooden ladder in the guest-bedroom closet one could enter the cramped attic, with its little windows which gave a view of towering trees and the sky. Harry knew Violet sometimes spent hours up there, but doing what -- he didn't know.

Harry placed the last few items in his trunk and looked around his room. He'd be back. He'd come back, to this house, to his room, as often as he could. By rights, it was his anyway. His father had been very clear that the house was left to Harry, legally, upon James and Violet's move to the states and that Harry was welcome there whenever, provided he didn't have other places he was supposed to be.

They'd lived here the longest, over the nine years since they'd fled from Godric's Hollow. In seven moves, they'd managed to live here for two years. He'd had the same school, the same doctor and healer, the same friends, the same grocery stores, the same...everything for the past two years. And now it was all gone. He'd move in, temporarily, with McGonagall and then, next year, he'd be sorted into his Hogwarts House.

***

That evening, Sirius came to gather Harry and his things and take him to where Minerva was waiting for him.

"You'll still see Neville, and a few of your other friends, regularly. Your Dad told me they're aware of the situation. Molly's asked to have you come around for Sunday lunch at least once a month -- so you won't be too much on your own," Sirius said as he shrunk Harry's trunk and put it in his pocket.

Sirius gave Harry a side-long glance. "You've your wand, right?" he asked quietly.

Harry nodded. Both he and Violet had wands -- not legal by any means, but approved by the Ministry for emergency situations and they'd been taught to use them with certain, and at times, life-saving spells. Harry used his wand far more frequently than it had been approved for, but he suspected Violet did as well, and wasn't at all worried about it. He'd be more careful, with Minerva looking after him, but he saw no real reason kids shouldn't utilize their powers.

"Alright. Wand at the ready for the broom ride, yeah?" Sirius asked. "You won't need it, and as an Auror, I shouldn't encourage it, but...I don't want us caught unawares by anyone."

Harry nodded again and mounted the 2-seater broom, behind Sirius.

"Hold onto the straps tightly and up we go!" Sirius cried.

The journey was long and cold, but Harry didn't complain. Sirius wouldn't be able to hear him against the wind anyway, and besides...he'd done all of his complaining already and it hadn't changed the situation one bit.

***

They touched down in a very tiny village in the North-West of Scotland, just above Loch Hourn.

"It's a magickal village," Sirius said. "So you'll have access to things you need, and to the floo network, and you can reach me, or Remus, whenever you need to."

"Thanks. I appreciate that," Harry responded as Sirius led him into a pub, then turned the corner and led him into a small, warm, private room.

Minerva McGonagall stood rigidly, clothes expertly pressed, hair scraped back, mouth firm, in a corner of the room.

She clucked her tongue. "There you are! I had half a mind to go on and find you myself!" she said, with a heavy Scottish accent. 

Sirius checked his watch. "We're only late by about ten minutes, Minerva, calm down."

Minerva raised one perfectly sculpted eyebrow. "Anything can happen in ten minutes, Sirius Black!"

Sirius chuckled. "Well, everything's fine and I've brought you young Harry, so let's get on with it." He strode foward and handed over Harry's trunk.

Harry squeezed his fingers tighter around the strap of his backpack and tried to appear solemn and somewhat grateful. "Thank you, for taking me in this way, Ma'am."

Minerva gave a small smile. "You may call me Minerva, when we're alone, and 'Professor' when we are among other students or colleagues of mine, Mr. Potter," she explained.

Sirius gave Harry a hug. "Be well. Write often. Floo-call if you need anything. Your father will be unreachable for the next three weeks."

Harry hugged hard for a few moments and then stepped back. "Don't worry about me, Padfoot. I'll be fine," he said as quietly as he could manage.

After some brief instructions, Sirius left and Minerva held her hand out to Harry.

"Come on, Potter, we'll settle you in at my house. You'll come with me in the morning, to Hogwarts. The semester hasn't started yet, of course, but it will very soon, so I've things to see to. We'll be Apparating now, mind yourself."

Harry nodded and gripped her wrist. 

***

They arrived at a very small cottage, and Harry was told it was just under 3-km from the village -- easily walk-able, on a warm day.

"I've two bedrooms, and one is yours for the time being. There's the kitchen and the bath and my office on this floor. The other floor has the bedrooms and a minuscule library. You're not allowed in my room, nor in the shed out back, but everywhere else is fine," Minerva explained as she led him up the cramped staircase.

In the second bedroom, which was sparse but clean, she unshrunk his trunk and left him to unpack. "When you're done settling in, come down. I've a stew on for supper," she said.

Harry nodded. He hoped, though he was sure it was wasted, that the year here wouldn't be dreadfully boring and too quiet.

*****************************

TBC


	2. Hogwarts As Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry spends the two weeks before the semester starts living at Hogwarts with Minerva and the rest of the staff.
> 
> A/N: This story is AU! There are multiple teachers per subject and more subjects than in canon, though the latter won't be important until Harry starts school.

Harry was pleased to find out, when he came downstairs for dinner, that the stew was vegetarian. He'd resigned himself to eating whatever was prepared for him, but he did prefer a vegetarian diet on a regular basis and couldn't be sure what details his father had told Professor McGonagall.

"I see no need to pay for meat, it's dear, while I'm only in my cottage for the summers," Minerva said, by way of explanation.

"That works out well for me, Professor," Harry said nicely.

Minerva nodded and went back to her meal. The stew was delicious and was accompanied by thick slabs of sourdough bread, which Harry suspected was homemade.

After dinner, Harry did the dishes and put the leftovers in a short, earthenware pot with a lid. He was tempted to place a preservation charm on the food, but didn't want McGonagall to become suspicious or to ask after it, so he just put it into the cold cupboard and finished washing down the counter and sink.

Harry could perform five charms, or spells, wandlessly -- mostly necessary for survival in case he was separated from his family and his wand. _Expelliarmus_, _Episkey_, _Cibres_ (the food preservation charm), _Lumos_ and its counterpart _Nox_, and, finally, Harry could perform _Protego_ wandlessly and wordlessly. Vi also had a few charms and spells down wandlessly, but not the same ones as Harry -- she could do two warding charms (_Repello Muggletum_ and _Repelle Tenebri_ [which repelled dark magick]) and _Wingardium Leviosa_ wandlessly.

It was rare for a child of ten, or in Vi's case nine, to be able to perform any magick non-verbally or wandlessly, but James had taken it upon himself to drill his children and teach them, somewhat ruthlessly, the magick that they knew and practiced regularly. Lily's death had been such a hard thing for James to face, and being a single dad seemed even harder -- from Harry's perspective. Harry had taught himself _Lumos_ and _Nox_ as James had considered them not important to learn, but Harry figured it would do them all some good if they had to flee in the middle of the night. Vi had worked very, very hard to master both warding spells that their father had wanted her to know, but she'd taught herself the levitation charm.

They each knew about a dozen other spells, wanded and worded, and some of those were quite practical, while others were for fun. Harry thought they were both over-prepared, but he'd never, not in a million years, say anything to his father about it. It wouldn't do any good anyway.

***

The new semester didn't start until September 2nd, and so Harry had the run of the castle for the next two weeks.

He wasn't living in Professor McGonagall's quarters like he thought he'd be, instead he was staying in what would be the Head Gryffindor Student's room. Head Students got their own rooms (one per House), whereas Prefects shared a room for the entirety of their Prefect status (which was rarely revoked, if you were made a Prefect in your fifth year, you stayed one until graduation unless you became a Head Student). 

It was a small room, but nice. It wasn't at all fancy in the ways in which Harry had sort of expected, but it had everything a student could need - including its own small bath. 

Harry spent his days wandering around the castle, or studying in the library. Nothing was all that off-limits to him, considering that there were barely any other students present and since school hadn't started there wasn't anything all that dangerous about. Professor were still setting up their classrooms and moving into their quarters. 

He'd met Madeline and Amanda Hooch, Madam Hooch's daughters, one of whom was Harry's age (Amanda) and the other who was going into her fourth year. He'd also met the son of Professor Braxen, who taught Muggles 101. Professor Braxen's son, Aiden, was going into his seventh year and, sadly, would graduate before Harry started Hogwarts properly.

At Hogwarts, the Muggle Studies Department included Muggles 101 (to teach Wixen about Muggles), but it also had subjects like Literature, Maths, Geography, Music and History. Basically the core subjects they'd be taking if they were all attending a muggle school instead of a magickal school.

Harry had met several Professors over the course of the two weeks, and he'd been pleased to do so -- though Professor Quirrell, who taught Geography, gave him a really bad feeling. He filed it away, to take out and examine next year -- when he actually might take a class with the man.

***

When he was done wandering the castle or studying in the library, Harry often went out onto the grounds and took walks around the lake or used a school broom to fly the Quidditch pitch. Sometimes Madam Hooch, who was the flying coach but also taught the Quidditch-related P.E. course, came out and sat in the stands, watching him. He figured it was a safety thing, but a few times she'd clapped at his moves -- so maybe it was more of a fan thing. 

Harry ate his meals in the Great Hall with everyone else. Meals were on a schedule and all of the professors, and the few students and/or children, seemed to stick pretty closely to it. He was trying to locate the kitchen, but still hadn't found it yet.

By the end of the two weeks, he'd barely seen Professor McGonagall and so he was very unsure of how things were going to work when classes started.

Finally, at dinner on his second-to-last night, she sat down across from him at the table. 

"How has your two weeks been, Mr. Potter?" Professor McGonagall asked as she poured a cup of tea into a delicate cup atop a saucer.

Harry smiled and then leaned forward slightly. "I imagine, Professor, that you've been getting regular updates."

Minerva gave a little laugh and then nodded. "Madam Pince and Apprentice Liall have said pleasant things about your time in the library and Rolanda...Madam Hooch has been complimentary about your flying skills, yes. However, I still wonder...how have you found it, being here these two weeks?"

"I've liked it. The castle is its own world. You could get lost in it. I look forward to being a student here next year," Harry said blandly.

"Good to hear," Minerva said as she sat back, taking her cup with her. "You'll return to my cottage tomorrow, after dinner. Magery will meet you there."

Harry grinned. Margery was a Potter House-Elf, but, more importantly, she was his Elf -- the Elf that would go with him when he became of-age, the one who was loyal to only Harry, though she was currently bonded to the Potter Line, rather than to Harry himself. "I didn't realize..."

Minerva nodded. "She's been anxious to be with you again. Your father has made it clear she's to look after you while I'm at Hogwarts and to see to your needs. He's said you know the rules with her. Additionally, she's to make regular reports to me -- of how you are. Not of your activities, but of how you are doing and if you need things. She'll also get you to and from your sessions and your various gatherings."

"That's perfect, thank you," Harry replied.

Minerva nodded and rose from the table. "I'll see you in my office after dinner tomorrow. Bring your things -- packed up well. Don't leave anything behind."

"Of course," Harry said.

"Oh, I almost forgot...You'll also be given access to a Potter owl, though I've not been told which one. I've given access, in my wards, to your House-Elf and a Potter Owl. I'll not be bending my wards any further, so keep that in mind. You'll not have friends in my home. See that you keep my home tidy as well," she added as she walked away.

Harry stared after her for a few minutes more before returning to his meal. Maybe the next year would be just fine, after all.

****************************

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Different Hogwarts rules apply. I'm adding some stuff to the canon world and changing some other things.  
\-- There is a Student Council.  
\-- It is not electable; it's appointed.  
\-- Head of House appoints the Head Student, with approval from the Headmaster.  
\-- There are 4 Head Students (1 from each House).  
\-- There are 6 Prefects per House (chosen in their 5th Year).  
\-- The Head Student oversees the Prefects, and even helps select them; with approval from the Head of House.  
\-- The Head Students are like the Student Body Presidents. They weigh in on school policies and plan school events.  
\-- The Student Council includes the Head Students and all Prefects.  
\-- However, the Prefects only get 1 vote per House. They must be united in their vote.  
\-- Head Students can take points and assign detention.  
\-- Prefects can take points and give slips to have the student go see a Head Student or a Professor.  
\-- Prefects help with Hall Monitoring.  
\-- Head Students have meetings with the Head of House and then tell Prefects anything they need to know.  
\-- Head Students sometimes oversee detentions.
> 
> All 7th Year Students can be offered an Apprenticeship for any subject, for after they graduate Hogwarts.  
An Apprenticeship would take the place of any post-Hogwarts education or University.  
Apprentices must sit NEWT exams, but those scores do not affect the offer of Apprenticeship.  
Magery -- pronounced Ma-gur-ie. (gur as in jury, not a hard g).


End file.
